Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Bider's other best bud is my ten year old son Ethan. Bider is very protective of Ethan, and I think if he ever felt like someone was really threatening him, he'd try and rip them to shreds. Bear in mind I have had Bider over a month, and I've yet to even hear him growl. He also is the best behaved dog in the dog park, always running away from aggressive dogs, and playing gently with the toy breeds.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Bider's best bud is another rescue dog, Brinks. Brinks is most likely a mix of Aussie, and some other long haired herding type dog. Bider crawls under the fence to get to Brinks' yard, and they play sometimes for hours. Brinks loves to dig big holes all over his yard, so they play some weird game where one dog gets in the hole, and the other attacks him. Sort of a dog version of cowboys and indians. You can see one of Brinks' construction projects behind him in this photo.

Here is a picture of Baron Bider Von Sikehausen settling down for his first night with us. He was surprisingly comfortable in his new surroundings, in fact he slept a lot the first few days. At some point I will post the complete story on how he came to live with us, his name et-al. Suffice to say, he definitely found us.

Hi folks, Bider and I thought it would be a good idea to start a blog detailing our experiences. Our biggest reason for doing this is so people and dogs everywhere who face the same challenges Bider and I face can learn from our successes and failures as both master and dog.

We also felt the need to combat the ignorance and misinformation out there concerning large breed dogs, their training, care, and socialization. Too many large dogs, and dog breeds get labeled as dangerous, untrustworthy, aggressive, or just plain mean.

Of course it's not the dogs, it's the apathetic owners, the misinformed people who make the laws, and the ignorance of man which caused the traits to be so prevalent. (In many cases we created these ourselves through unsound breeding and socialization practices).

My dog, Bider is the product of a flawed system which values consumer appeal and appearances, over what is really good for people and their domesticated animals, especially the GSD, the most intelligent, loyal, and hardest working of all large dog breeds.

The idea that "Well, this dog isn't working out, so I'll just dump him." is indicative of the type of throwaway society we live in, where relationships, life, and love - come second to convenience, money, and instant gratification.

I knew when I adopted Bider that this entire socialization and training process would be difficult, but ultimately worth it. Already after a few short weeks, I can really see it starting to happen, the light has gone on within him so to speak. You are welcome to join us for the ride....